socialmedian: Fort Hood and the new McCarthyism

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Fort Hood and the new McCarthyism | HA Hellyer

Source: The Guardian

Nov 08, 2009

Summary

Although Muslims are some of the US's most loyal citizens, this terrible shooting will be used as evidence that they are innately un-American

The Fort Hood shootings will likely reverberate across the media for weeks to come. In all likelihood, it will be logged as yet further evidence that the Muslims are a dangerous fifth column that simply cannot be trusted in the west.

Why? Because the shooter appears to be a Muslim. Worse: a Muslim of Arab origin.

It is interesting to see how the media have already reported on this tragic event – immediately, questions (and answers) were posed about the shooter's ethnicity and religion: implicitly (and in some cases, explicitly) making clear that such things were not just relevant to the story, but probably causal factors. The fact that he was born and raised on American soil is irrelevant.

Some may simply throw their hands up in the air in frustration, and declare: "Well, of course it's because he was an Arab Muslim that he did this!" Others may just secretly harbour such feelings – but all of them forget about people like

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